Hierarchy of Needs in Hungarian Election Campaigns (1990-2022)

The research examines the election campaigns of the political parties that won seats in the Hungarian parliament from 1990 to 2022. It summarises the main themes of 45 campaigns in nine parliamentary elections by collecting around half a thousand political messages from election leaflets. The resulting database of election messages is categorised according to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Based on Maslow's motivational theory, the research analyses all the Hungarian election campaigns that led to the winning of parliamentary seats after the regime change. By distinguishing between winning, alternative successful and less successful campaigns, it will be evaluated how the composition of successful and less successful campaigns differs; what proportion of messages are formulated in terms of physiological, security, community, esteem and self-actualisation needs. The research traces the distribution of campaign messages by Maslow levels over the decades, and shows the sinking of the centre of gravity of winning campaigns and the prioritisation of security needs in Hungarian political life.